SpotCrime - The Public's Crime Map

Surveillance planes to combat crimes, facial recognition tech in schools, hot spot policing, mental illness and crime, AI, CA ends private prisons, and more... POLICE CONDUCT LAPD changing controversial program that uses data to predict where crimes will occur  (LA Times) Community Based Public Safety Solutions Are Working in South Los Angeles  (LA Sentinel) Fort Bend County Sheriff Nehls: Mental illness ‘biggest issue’ in Fort Bend County  (Houston Chronicle) STUDY: Where’s The Crime? Exploring Divergences Between Call Data and Perceptions of Local Crime and the microgeographic dynamics of this ‘hidden hot spot’  (Oxford Academic) Fort Collins Police Chief oped: Mindful approach to policing, community health helps increase safety  (Coloradoan) How Many Police Officers Should A City Have?  (WCCO) IRS Followed Bitcoin Transactions, Resulting In Takedown Of The Largest Child Exploitation Site On The Web  (Forbes) CRIME RATE Air Pollutio...

Social media used to predict crime, tech used to predict and solve crime, crime influenced by time of day, school violence, blockchain in justice, combating the opioid crisis, and more... POLICE CONDUCT Report: As Tech Changes Law Enforcement, Its Workforce Must Adapt  (GovTech) Justice Department is Awarding Almost $320 Million to Combat Opioid Crisis  (DOJ) Feds Order Google To Hand Over A Load Of Innocent Americans' Locations  (Forbes) Maryland supplying $12M in grants to Baltimore PD for technology, violent crime fight, community policing  (Baltimore Fishbowl) NYPD yanks thousands of body cams after one caught fire  (Gizmodo) Charlottesville Police Department changes how stop and frisk data is collected, presented  (Cavalier Daily) CRIME RATE UNESCO report reveals high levels of violence and bullying in schools  (UNESCO) see also:  New Jersey mom follows 'gut feeling', stopping potential school shooting in central Kentucky ...

POLICE CONDUCT Palantir has secretly been using New Orleans to test its predictive policing technology  (The Verge) See also:  The Future of Policing Is Being Hashed Out in Secret  (Bloomberg) and also:  Artificial intelligence could identify gang crimes—and ignite an ethical firestorm  (ScienceMag) Homebuying incentive could help San Diego with police officer shortage  (San Diego Tribune) 2017 saw highest number of officer-involved shootings in more than two decades  (The Spokesman Review) CRIME RATE Philly Study: Cleaning Vacant Land Can Significantly Reduce Crime  (PhillyMag.com) When the Saints play, do fewer people in New Orleans get shot?  (NOLA.com) Global Cost of Cyber-Crime Reached a New High of $600 Billion in 2017  (eWeek) Did mass shootings increase 200 percent since assault weapons ban expired?  (Politifact) See also:  Four Or Five Mass Shootings A Year-Not One A Day  (CrimeInAmerica.net) Port...

Crime is up...or down, the efficiency of AI and data in policing, the problem with stolen guns, transparency an antidote to fake news, plea bargains and bail a problem with the justice system, and more... POLICE CONDUCT Data shows Utah is ‘headed in the right direction’ with criminal justice reforms, report says (Salt Lake Tribune) St. Louis Police Continue to Cite Blacks for Marijuana Possession at a High Rate (Riverfronttimes.com) See also: Florida Police Issue Hundreds of Bad Pedestrian Tickets Every Year Because They Don’t Seem to Know the Law (ProPublica) Local law enforcement authorities support DACA in federal court (Houston Chronicle) In Alabama, an official’s use of public funds and behavior toward critics have raised questions about the broad powers of American sheriffs. (NYTimes) CRIME RATE Year-End Analysis: Crime and Murder Down in 2017 (BrennanCenter.org) See also: U.S. Crime Rate is Stable, Victimization Survey Says (TheCrimeReport.org) and also: ...

Ordinary citizens credited for declining crime rate, America is still debating gun ownership and gun violence debate, the cost of the opioid crisis, AI in policing, and more... POLICE CONDUCT Does de-escalation endanger police officers or save lives? (PoliceOne.com) City's legal bills over 'unrecorded' police phone line surpass $200K (Mlive.com) Mass. Trooper Sues Police Leaders After He Was Told To Alter Arrest Report Of Judge's Daughter (WBUR)  N.J. police chief said black people are 'like ISIS' and he'd like to be 'on the firing squad,' feds say (ChicagoTribune) West Memphis program reduces violent crime (Fox13Memphis) Reforming criminal justice: A report of the academy for justice bridging the gap between scholarship and reform (Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law) CRIME RATE The Unsung Role That Ordinary Citizens Played in the Great Crime Decline (NYTimes) Does Increased Gun Ownership Help Decrease Crime? (NPR) ...

There is a huge US debate currently unraveling on whether police body camera footage is public under Freedom of Information Act laws (FOIA). Public access to body cam footage is necessary for obvious reasons. For one, to create a certain level of transparency. Having a recording of actual events can build a reliable and accurate portrayal of what actually occurred instead of relying on anecdotal evidence. Body cam footage encourages the reduction of unnecessary use of force and misconduct . It has showed the Baltimore police planting evidence , the the Charlotte-Mecklenburg police shooting a man with his arms in the air as well as the unnecessary arrest and use of force on a Salt Lake City nurse.  It has also helped convictions like this criminal who shot a police officer four times . It has displayed chaos during events like the Las Vegas shooting, and given a look into the selfless acts of police officers like these two Atlanta officers who rescued people from a b...

Over policing in Durham, precision policing, blockchain and machine learning is future of crim-tech, Baylor crime reporting investigation, Google Docs phishing scam, police shootings, Harris County cash bail system unconstitutional, and more... POLICE CONDUCT Watch: Norfolk Police dance the night away at ‘Cops and Curls’ event (WTKR) Protesters seek end to 'over-policing' in Durham as chief delivers crime report (WRAL) What is Precision Policing? (SpotCrime) Officers Won’t Be Charged in Black Man’s Shooting Death in Louisiana (NYTimes) Balch Springs police fire Officer Roy Oliver, who fatally shot Jordan Edwards with rifle (Dallasnews.com) Ex-Officer Who Shot Walter Scott Pleads Guilty in Charleston (NYTimes) Law Enforcement Agencies' Requests for Facebook Data Continue to Rise (GovTech) CRIME RATE Protesters throw Pepsi cans at police during May Day demonstrations (TheGuardian.com) Half of Immigrants Arrested in ICE Raids Had Traffic ...

What is Crim-Tech? You may be familiar with the term fin-tech. It stands for ‘financial technology’ and is defined as computer programs and other technology used to support or enable banking and financial services. It includes services as simple as online banking and PayPal to algorithms that attempt to predict the stock market. Although technology in policing isn’t a new idea, we have begun to see an influx in the amount of technology utilized by police agencies worldwide. Because of this, we’ve decided to coin the term ‘crim-tech’.  Crim-tech stands for ‘criminal technology’ and is defined as any computer program or other technology used to support or enable policing strategies. Examples of Crim-Tech Believe it or not, crim-tech has been around at police agencies for decades and is apparent in all aspects of policing, from the initial 911 call to the time someone is arrested. Walkie talkies appeared on the force after WWII. The 911 emergency calling system came a...

Precision Policing Definition Precision policing is a systematic, proactive and almost precognitive approach to ensuring public safety . It organizes a police agency’s structure around data and information to build investigations of high value suspects committing the most crimes. It involves a more collaborative inter-agency cooperation, but also a strong focus on community collaboration. What was once the job of the detective department, is now a whole agency collective. It was developed by the NYPD in 2014 and championed by the recent drop in crimes across the city . With precision policing, the NYPD has moved away from the controversial stop and frisk and moved toward identifying people and patterns with data. NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton describes it as "fewer arrests for minor offenses—'broken windows' types of offenses—while at the same time more significant numbers of arrests for the serious crimes that we're focusing on."  Although stop ...